12 January 1788

A Masonic musical academy in Vienna

Auszug vi:422, Thu, 31 Jan 1788 (Prager Oberpostamtszeitung, 8)

⁣     c) Wien den 19 Jenner. […]                                            

Auszug_1788-01-12_cropped-a-small

⁣    Den 12ten dieses feyerte die Wiener Ge=
sellschaft Freymaurer das Vermählungsfest bey=
der königl. Hoheiten Franzens und Elisabethens
mit einer prächtigen musikalischen Akademie,
welche das Seltene und zugleich Feyerliche an
sich hatte, daß die größten Virtuosen als Mit=
glieder dem Feste ihre Geistesgaben opferten,
und die Anzahl von 200 der gewähltesten Brü=
der dieses Ordens zum innigsten Vergnügen
rührten.

Auszug_1788-01-12_cropped-b-small

[translation:]

c) Vienna, 19 January [...]

[...]

    
On the 12th of this [month] the Viennese
society of Masons celebrated the marriage
of the two Royal Highnesses Franz and
Elisabeth with a magnificent musical academy,
which had both the rarity and distinction that
the greatest virtuosi, as members, offered
their talents to the celebration and
moved the 200 most select brothers of this
order to the most profound pleasure.


Commentary

On 6 Jan 1788 Archduke Francis married Elisabeth of Württemberg at the Imperial Court Chapel in the Hofburg. The wedding was an occasion for celebration throughout Vienna; the principal musical event was the premiere of Salieri’s Axur, re d'Ormus on 8 Jan. Mozart is not mentioned by name in this report of a Masonic musical academy on 12 Jan 1788, but given his association with the craft and prominence as a “Virtuoso” it is likely that he took part. The venue for the academy is not given but it was presumably the lodge Zur gekrönten Hoffnung, located in the house Zum silbernen Hut on Bauernmarkt.

The source of this item, the Auszug aus aller europäischen Zeitungen was, as it name suggests, a journal digest of European newspapers published in Vienna from 1786–1798. The reports are organised by country, with news about the "kaiserliche königliche Staaten" always appearing first, and occasionally featuring original items about Vienna. As a footnote to each item, the Auszug helpfully gives the source newspaper and issue number, which has allowed us to track down the original article in a number of cases. The founder and first editor, Karl Franz Guolfinger Ritter von Steinsberg (c. 1757–1806) seems to have taken a particular interest in music, and the Auszug is a valuable source for quotations from otherwise lost newspapers. It is itself very rare, and the only complete copy survives today in the Moravian National Library in Brno (pace Brauneis 1991, 165, which describes the Wienbibliothek’s incomplete holdings of the Auszug as unica). The existence of the Brno exemplar was first noted in Gugitz and Schlossar (1923, 546).

This item is also quoted in Das Wienerblättchen, 30 Jan 1788, 384–85. It was first noted independently if rather idiosyncratically in Autexier (1984, 17, in French translation with no source given) and then Autexier ([2014], 218).


Bibliography

Autexier, Philippe A. 1984. Mozart & Liszt sub rosa. Poitiers: privately printed.

————. [2014]. Lyra Latomorum....Masonica über Haydn Mozart Spohr Liszt. (pdf)

Brauneis, Walther. 1991. “Unveröffentlichte Nachrichten zum Dezember 1791 aus einer Wiener Lokalzeitung.” Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum 39:165–68.

Gugitz, Gustav and Anton Schlossar, eds. 1923. Johann Pezzl: Skizze von Wien. Graz: Leykam-Verlag.


Credit: DB

Author: David Black

Search Term: NA

Categories: Biography

First Published: Thu, 12 Jun 2014


Print Citation:

Black, David. 2014. “A Masonic musical academy in Vienna (12 January 1788).” In: Mozart: New Documents, edited by Dexter Edge and David Black. First published 12 June 2014. https://www.mozartdocuments.org/documents/12-january-1788/

Web Citation:

Black, David. 2014. “A Masonic musical academy in Vienna (12 January 1788).” In: Mozart: New Documents, edited by Dexter Edge and David Black. First published 12 June 2014. [direct link]